Lyman Bryson as discussion moderator

Among Lyman Bryson's chief characteristics as a leader of public discussion were the versatility with which he introduced the subject, the keenness with which he discovered issues, and the creativity with which he useed individual difference of opinion.     

Families with Gifted Adolescents

Studies of families with gifted adolescents have revealed conflicting results. Adolescents, mothers, and fathers of 84 families with a gifted adolescent and of 95 families with a non‐gifted adolescent evaluated their family system independently. Dependent variables were cohesion, democratic family style (adaptability), organisation, achievement orientation, communication, and intellectual‐cultural orientation. Neither statistically nor practically significant relationships between giftedness and family system variables could be observed from the perspectives of the adolescents, the mothers, or the fathers. Contradictory results from other studies can be primarily attributed to their methodological shortcomings, labelling effects, or both. The mean inter‐rater agreement was r = .46 for mothers and fathers, r = .38 for adolescents and mothers, and r = .35 for adolescents and fathers.     

Youth leaders' perceptions of commitment to a responsibility-based physical activity program

This study extended Schilling's (2001) study by investigating program commitment among a larger (N = 12), older (M = 16.7 years), and more experienced (M = 5.96 years) sample of participants in the Project Effort Youth Leader Corps. Individual interviews elicited a greater number and specificity of themes. Program-related barriers included logistics, structure, and relationships, and personal-related barriers included perceived alternatives, personal characteristics, and "real-life" responsibilities. Similar to Schilling's (2001) earlier study, antecedents grouped under program environment, program structure, relationships, and personal characteristics. Participants also described outcomes in terms of behavior and emotional involvement but reported more themes related to leadership. Results are discussed in terms of consistencies and changes over time and implications for program development, expansion, and evaluation.     

“Mathematical knowledge for teaching”: adapting U.S. measures for use in Ireland

This article describes a study in which measures of mathematical knowledge for teaching developed in the United States were adapted to measure mathematical knowledge for teaching in Ireland. When adapting the measures it was not assumed that the mathematical knowledge used by Irish and U.S. teachers is the same. Instead psychometric and interview-based methods were used to determine a correspondence between the constructs being measured, and ensure the integrity of item performance in the Irish context. The study found overlap between the knowledge that is used to teach in both Ireland and the United States, and that the items tapped into this knowledge. However, specific findings confirm the usefulness of conducting extensive checks on the validity of items used in cross-national contexts. The process of adaptation is described to provide guidance for others interested in using the items to measure mathematical knowledge for teaching outside the United States. The process also enabled the authors to raise questions about the assumptions that lie behind the practice-based construct of mathematical knowledge for teaching.

An argument for vindicating a Marxist ontology in environmental education research

Abstract

In this paper, we analyse the status and significance of adopting a Marxist ontological perspective in the field of Brazilian environmental education. We draw on the concept of labour developed by Marx, where labour is used as a category to articulate the relationships humans establish with nature and which, historically, have an impact on their living conditions. Given the ongoing process of destroying the material basis of life under a Capitalist means of production, we argue that environmental educators and researchers require refinements to the theoretical and methodological frameworks they use to understand contradictions between development and sustainability in Brazil. This includes meeting their responsibilities to help others and themselves overcome the current capitalist model governing the social and material production of life.